There's a better word for what I am: an apatheist.
It's a neologism that fuses "apathy" and "theism." It means someone who has absolutely no interest in the question of a god's (or gods') existence, and is just as uninterested in telling anyone else what to believe.

Friday, July 8, 2011

One Last Time

Atlantis had a successful liftoff this morning, the last space shuttle flight. The end of thirty years of service.

What makes this such a melancholy moment is that this is the effective death of America's manned space program. As someone who grew up with the glory of the race to the moon, space was always exciting. We believed that we could do anything; that science, technology, and invention were our future.

But America is now a dying empire, and this is our last big show of our prowess. We can't build anymore manned spacecraft programs. The simple fact that a thirty year old vehicle is the best we have (and are retiring) makes me sad. Thirty years without advancing any further, nor any plan to advance ahead.

Another dream from our childhood now dying, and it's all downhill from here.

This is a good thing. NASA launches of the Shuttle averaged over $1 billion per shot. I might have wished for another 3 years of Shuttle service life but beyond that private industry will bring the cost of payload delivery far below what a Shuttle launch costs. If we are to have a consistent outreach further and further into the solar system we need a lower cost per pound to do it in a sustainable way. I believe the government has a role to play in space exploration but being efficient is not something that they have been known for so far. Manned space missions are a good thing that will continue to happen more and more often all over the planet as I grow older. The dream is not dead, it's just that governments will no longer have a monopoly on putting people into space. And I'll end as I began. That's a good thing.

Urland, buddy, I wish that I could agree with you, but...Private space travel will be motivated by profit, whereas government sponsored space exploration was (mostly) science based. Instead of exploration, we'll see space tourism for the very, very rich. Any new technologies developed will be properties of the large corporations to exploit, rather than a benefit to mankind in general.

Yes space tourism has begun with the very rich. It won't always be that way. With current technology I don't expect Chris Smith in Duluth to be going anytime soon, but breathtaking advances in technology can and do happen. And yeah private companies are going to want to make a profit which is why they will be focusing on lowering the cost per kilo to achieve orbit. That's good for tourism and science. If researchers can put extra millions into a satellite as opposed to launch costs it will accelerate our study of the universe. Of the private firms involved so far in building space vehicles, the people involved are space enthusiasts who have the qualities you say are dying in the American spirit. Do a video search of Elon Musk and listen to him talk. This is the guy who will be delivering supplies and astronauts to the ISS within a few years. The US manned space program is not dead at all, it's just shifted to Soyuz launches for a short while. I'm old enough that 3 years really is a short while in the greater scheme of things. The Shuttle was an overly complicated bad design from the start. That doesn't mean I didn't love it and didn't yell at my TV on occasion saying go baby go when watching one take off. It sent a lot of good science into orbit. The last Apollo mission launched in 1972 and the first Shuttle mission was in 1981. The lapse for the US to have a manned rockets taking off will be shorter this time. I can see having some nostalgia for the Shuttle but there is no call for gloom. Hurray for the space programs!

I too feel sad about this. I never loved the space shuttle in the first place because it wasn't going anywhere - just up to the space station and back. But at least we continued to do something. What has been lacking is a dream, something that propels us out into space for the simple purpose of exploring. Yes, I know, I'm an old Trekkie, and that "explore strange new worlds" thing still resonates for me. I always thought we'd at least get to Mars in my lifetime and maybe outside the immediate solar system. Not going to happen. Unfortunately I agree that our best days are behind us. I think at some point someone will explore again but the probably will be from another country.